Hello all - Canada

Hello all, picked up a bottle of Taboo absinthe made in Vernon BC locally. Feel fantastic after a few drinks. I never really drink at all but this relaxes me after hours. Listening to lp's is a whole new experience.

Looking for suggestions on alternatives to Taboo (not a knock on quality but low thugeon level - 10mg/kg).

Feel fantastic after a few drinks. I never really drink at all but this relaxes me after hours. Listening to lp's is a whole new experience.

Yep, alcohol will do that. Especially if you're an infrequent drinker.

Looking for suggestions on alternatives to Taboo (not a knock on quality but low thugeon level - 10mg/kg).

I think you mean 10mg/l, or 10ppm, thujone. That equates to 0.00001%. Even ten times that amount, 100ppm, is only 0.0001%. Like Joe said, meaningless. In higher doses, thujone isn't going to make you feel good—that's not what it does—it's going to make you feel like you're poisoned and having seizures, because you would be.

Summary
The media coverage about absinthe, a bitter spirit containing wormwood (Artemisia absinthum L.), continues to repeat unsubstantiated myths and legends and the public is systematically misinformed. Especially, the theory about a significant thujone content in absinthe must be put into perspective as there are a number of different wormwood chemotypes with a large variance in thujone content (0–70.6 % in essential oil) from which a mean thujone content of about 20 mg/l in distilled absinthe with a large standard deviation of up to 20 mg/l may be calculated. However, a higher thujone amount of 260 mg/l derived from erroneous and out-ofdate calculations is generally presented as “historical content” in addition to reports about unsubstantiated psychoactive or aphrodisiac properties. Other studies used unauthentic recipes with unrealistically high amounts of wormwood that would produce undrinkable bitter products. In general, a previous overestimation of the thujone content of pre-ban absinthe was detected.

Some relevant excerpts:

Absinthe – a bitter spirit containing wormwood (Artemisia absinthium L.) and other herbs – was one of the most popular alcoholic beverages in late 19th century Europe. Renewed interest in absinthe has been raised by the fact that after a century-long prohibition in many European countries, wormwood was re-legalised as an ingredient of alcoholic beverages in 1988, and currently over 100 types of absinthe are legally available.
It is remarkable that the media coverage about absinthe continues to repeat unsubstantiated myths and legends, and in the scientific as well as in the lay literature the public is systematically misinformed.
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A wide variation in the oil content of wormwood and even wider variations of the thujone content in the oil is notable. A number of different chemotypes was found in the studies with α-thujone, cis-chrysanthenyl acetate, cis-chrysanthenol, cis-epoxyocimene, sabinyl acetate or bornyl acetate as principal component. Some chemotypes did not contain thujone at all, for example chemotypes from France, Italy, Spain, Lithuania, and Egypt. It is therefore possible to produce absinthe without any thujone.
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So much attention is focused on absinthe’s myths and supposed effects that almost everyone has forgotten that it was once a gourmet product with all the finesse of the best high quality spirits. The figure of 260 mg/l of thujone that was repeated over and over might have kept producers at the beginning of the absinthe renaissance in the 1990s from using historical recipes such as those of Duplais. Only in recent years, have a number of authentic distilled absinthes become available on the market. Our analyses showed that such products easily do comply with the thujone maximum limits and this fact may also prove the prior overestimation of the thujone contents.

Nice to see a fellow Canadian around! Taboo is pretty nice. As one of the easily available locally absinthes I've been able to enjoy it on a few occasions. Definitely do try some other brands. Lucid seems to be all over Canada--I found it to be about the same level of Taboo although it's a pretty different taste--and some places have Clandestine. There's a few other places getting into producing absinthe in Canada so our options should continue to open up. I've also been able to mail order bottles.

Don't chase the green fairy, all you will find are pork chops. Just enjoy absinthe for what it is.

Mmmmmmm, pork chops. Welcome to another Canuck. The people here are passionate about absinthe and I believe that they want you to know the truth about absinthe and the myths around thujone so that you will be able to enjoy a wonderful drink.